Skyler Ashton

Mr. Conrad

English 4 Per. 2

3 September 2020

How Wrestling Made Me Who I am

It is a Monday in January of my sophomore year, the beginning of the week and I am

scurrying through the rain to get to practice. It is our first week of the postseason, and we have our

league tournament on Saturday. I know it will be a long week because I am moving down a weight

class, which will require tremendous determination and sacrifice.

paragraph about the previous season

I am there at practice Monday afternoon, working up a sweat, getting in some good

drilling, and beginning to shave a little weight off. We are just easing into it, in preparation for the

long week ahead. At the end of practice I step on the scale to see I have fourteen more pounds that

I am dreading to lose. Dragging a little from the effort of practice, I go home a bit tired and have a

little chicken and some salad--, but not too much. On Tuesday, it is a little hard to focus during

classes because I am so focused on our tournament, but I manage the day. Now I am at practice

putting on a couple layers of shirts. As the team gets moving, everything is smooth, but towards the

end I push my pace attempting to get better but to also lose more weight. I am feeling a bit tired,

but I step on the scale hoping to see a number better than 12 more pounds. I go home to have

another small dinner and go to sleep.

It is now Wednesday and things begin to get rough. I manage getting through my classes

but I now have to go to practice and I know it will be tough. I begin putting on some extra layers
of clothing and getting to work. I am pushing the pace for the second half of practice as hard as I

can, I do not have much left and at the end of practice I lie on the floor for at least 5 minutes before

checking my weight. I see I have 10 more pounds to loseto go but not much time left. I have a little

less chicken than normal for dinner and get as much rest as I can.

I go to school and it is Thursday now and school is nearly impossible;, I feel exhausted, I

am hungry, but I still manage to get through class. Now it is time for practice. As I begin practice,

and I am already tired and I have sweat everywhere, I am dragging myself around but constantly

moving. This seems to take forever b8ut practice finally ends. I step on the scale to find myself 8

pounds over still. I get home to have a salad for dinner and shortly after I go for a jog and then

proceed to take a hot bath.

The next day at school I am not very productive, although I am tired and hungry I have my

sights set on Saturday's tournament. Once I get through the long school day with only a glass of

water and a granola bar, I go to practice. We start practice with a long run and I get a good sweat

going. I know I have a lot of weight to lose so I push myself as hard as I can through all of

practice. Practice goes on and I feel like I am dying but I know it will be worth it. A couple of guys

stay after practice including myself to run some more. Finally I finish and I go to check my weight

with hopes that I am close. I look down at the scale to see that I am still 4 pounds over but I made it

quite a ways. I get home to have a couple of ice cubes for dinner and go for another long jog. Once

I am done jogging I take a bath and go for another jogb. All I can think about is food and water but

when I check my weight I am only 0.5 pounds over. I know I can sleep that off so I then go to bed

early because I have to be at the school by 5:30.

 It is time to weigh in. I am at union mine where the tournament is held and we are

weighing in. I step on the scale praying I made it. I look down and see that I weigh 154.0, meaning

I made it but if I was 0.1 more, I would not be able to compete. FINALLY, I quickly go drink

water and eat a healthy breakfast to restore as much energy as I can. I only have 1 match today for

1st and 2nd place. The person I am wrestling today is a senior from our rival school, union mine,

and he beat me 8-4, 3 weeks prior. All day I am mentally focused and ready to go looking for my

first league title. I have eaten and drinken as much as I can without being sick or letting it slow me

down. The day goes on because we are one of the last matches. Here I am, 20 minutes before my

match. It is gonna happen, I put on some music and start stretching. Nothing else is in my head. I

begin warming up and moving around as we zero in on our match. I am now up next and I

couldn’t be more prepared.

Now, we shake hands and the referee begins our match.

The 1st period goes well as I stick to our game plan and tire him out the best I can. We

ended the 1st period 0-0. As we enter the 2nd round I am ready and have good cardio, I also know

he is getting tired. I start on bottom to get a quick escape and take down to go up 3-0. Before the

round is over he gets a reversal but once again I quickly get an escape. At this point it is 4-2 and I

am up, I know he is tired and while I don’t want to believe it I am too, but not as much as he is. We

enter the 3rd round with myself on top and him on bottom. I work as hard as I can to hold him

down for as long as possible, It is working and eventually I turn him to his back. I am able to rack

up 3 more near fall points for back exposure. I am 7-2 and there is only 30 seconds left. I finished

the match and won 7-2. I have won my first league title and it feels great! I get my medal and begin

my preparations for next week's tournament. This may have been one of my hardest weeks but at
the time I won the biggest match I had ever been in. That week taught me to never give up no

matter what. In everything, whether it be school, work, or wrestling I won’t give up. No matter

what I will always have that with me and I will never give up. I am now entering my senior year

with hopes that there will be a season, I am stronger and better than ever, training hard each day. I

plan on wrestling in college because of this experience and many others that have taught me this

lesson but also many others I will never give up. Wrestling has made that part of who I am.

Score: 3 (proficient)

The Rubric: 5 (outstanding) 4 (advanced) 3 (proficient) 2 (developing) 1 (limited)

Ideas and Insight Articulate, specific Clear main idea; Topic is clear; Main Topic is clear, but Topic and/or main
main idea with Sufficient, relevant idea is evident; main idea may be idea are unclear;
strong supporting supporting details; relevant support unclear; some lacks support
details; Unique and Some depth of provided; May not support provided,
insightful thought evident delve deeply into but some may lack
the topic relevance

Organization Structure goes Clear flow of ideas Ideas organized May lack distinct Sections of text
beyond the from beginning to into distinct paragraphs or may be missing
standard essay end; Cohesive paragraphs; logical paragraphs lack (intro, conclusion);
format; Each part paragraphs present sequence of ideas cohesion; major disorganized
contributes to a ideas that build on mostly supports parts of text do not overall
unified whole one another main idea support main idea

Support and Sufficient, relevant Ample evidence Relevant evidence Overall lack of Lacks evidence or
Development evidence and details used and details evidence or details; details; insufficient
throughout; Clear effectively; clear provided for most explanations are or incoherent
analysis articulates explanations and sections; unclear or missing explanations;
how evidence analysis without Explanations aid in in some sections; overly repetitive;
supports the main repetition comprehension of overly repetitive; extremely
idea evidence but may underdeveloped underdeveloped
be repetitive

Language and Style Topic-specific Well-chosen Appropriate Basic vocabulary Incorrect or very
vocabulary used vocabulary used grade-level use; few transition basic word usage;
throughout; varied effectively; variety vocabulary; Basic words and phrases lacks transitions;
sentence in sentence transition words used; Sentences choppy sentences;
structures and structure and and phrases link lack variety in no sense of
transitions create transition words / sections of text; structure; author’s voice
flow phrases; effective Some variety in numerous
and sophistication; quote integration; sentence structure; ‘dropped’ quotes;
varied quotation Author’s voice is basic quotation Lacks author’s
integration evident integration; May voice
 techniques; lack consistent
Author’s voice voice
shines through

Writing Few if any errors in A few errors in Some errors in Numerous errors Major errors in
Conventions spelling, spelling, spelling, in spelling, spelling,
capitalization, capitalization, capitalization, capitalization, capitalization,
punctuation, and punctuation, and punctuation, and punctuation, and punctuation, and
grammar grammar grammar that do grammar that grammar that
not interfere with interfere interfere
understanding somewhat with significantly with
understanding understanding

Formatting and Font, spacing, A few errors in Font, spacing, Numerous errors in Major errors in
Citations margins, font, spacing, margins, Font, spacing, Font, spacing,
header/heading, margins, header/heading, margins, margins,
and citations all header/heading, and citations header/heading, header/heading,
adhere to specified and citations mostly adheres to and citations and citations
format specified format